Pythagoras Biography

The Greek philosopher, scientist, and religious teacher Pythagoras
developed a school of thought that accepted the passage of the soul into
another body and established many influential mathematical and
philosophical theories.

Early life

Born on the island of Samos, off Greece, in the Mediterranean Sea,
Pythagoras was the son of Mnesarchus. Little is known about his early
life. After studying in Greece, he fled to southern Italy to escape the
harsh rule of Polycrates (died c. 522
B.C.E.
), who came to power about 538
B.C.E.
Pythagoras is said to have traveled to Egypt and Babylon during this
time.

Pythagoras and his followers became politically powerful in Croton in
southern Italy, where Pythagoras had established a school for his newly
formed sect, or group of followers. It is probable that the Pythagoreans
took positions in the local government in order to lead men to the pure
life that was directed by their teachings. Eventually, however, a rival
group launched an attack on the Pythagoreans at a gathering of the sect,
and the group was almost completely destroyed. Pythagoras either had
been forced to leave Croton or had left voluntarily shortly before this
attack. He died in Metapontum early in the fifth century
B.C.E.

Religious teachings

Pythagoras and his followers were important for their contributions to
both religion and science. His religious teachings were based on the
doctrine (teaching) of metempsychosis, which teaches that the soul never
dies and is destined to a cycle of rebirths until it is able to free
itself from the cycle through the purity of its life.

Pythagoreanism differed from the other philosophical systems of its time
in being not merely an intellectual search for truth but a whole way of
life which would lead to salvation, or to be delivered from sin. An
important part of Pythagoreanism was the relationship of all life. A
universal life spirit was thought to be present in animal and vegetable
life, although there is no evidence to show that Pythagoras believed
that the soul could be born in the form of a plant. It could be born,
however, in the body of an animal, and Pythagoras claimed to have heard
the voice of a dead friend in the howl of a dog being beaten.

Mathematical teachings

The Pythagoreans presented as fact the dualism (that life is controlled
by opposite forces) between Limited and Unlimited. It

Pythagoras.
Reproduced by permission of the

Corbis Corporation

.

was probably Pythagoras who declared that numbers could uncover the
secrets of the universe, limiting and giving shape to matter (anything
that takes up space). His study of musical intervals, leading to the
discovery that the chief intervals can be expressed in numerical ratios
(relationships between numbers) between the first four integers
(positive whole numbers), also led to the theory that the number ten,
the sum of the first four integers, embraced the whole nature of number.

So great was the Pythagoreans' respect for the "Tetractys
of the Decad" (the sum of 1 + 2
+ 3 + 4) that they swore their oaths (promises) by it rather than by
the gods, as was normal during his day. Pythagoras may have discovered
the theorem which still bears his name (in right triangles [triangle
with one angle equal to 90 degrees], the square on the hypotenuse equals
the sum of the squares on the other sides), although this proposal has
been discovered on a writing stone dating from the time of the
Babylonian king Hammurabi (died c. 1750
B.C.E.
). Regardless of their sources, the Pythagoreans did important work in
extending the body of mathematical knowledge.

As a more general outline, the Pythagoreans presented the two contraries
(opposites), Limited and Unlimited, as ultimate principles, or truths.
Numerical oddness and evenness are equated with Limited and Unlimited,
as are one and plurality (many), right and left, male and female,
motionlessness and movement, straight and crooked, light and darkness,
and good and bad. It is not clear whether an ultimate One, or Monad, was
presented as the cause of the two categories.

Cosmological views

The Pythagoreans, as a result of their religious beliefs and careful
study of mathematics, developed a cosmology (dealing with the structures
of the universe) which differed in some important respects from the
world views at the time, the most important of which was their view of
the Earth as a sphere which circled the center of the universe. It is
not known how much of this theory was credited to Pythagoras himself.

The mathematical knowledge carried out by Pythagoras and his followers
would have been enough to make him an important figure in the history of
Western thought. However, his religious sect and the self-discipline and
dedication which he taught, embracing as it did a vast number of ancient
beliefs, make him one of the great teachers of religion in the ancient
Greek world.

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